“What we went through” – James Belshe, WWII Veteran Earns Purple Heart for Injury Sustained in the Philippines

War History Online proudly presents this Guest Article by military historian Jeremy P. Amick.

“Seventy-something years ago,” described Eldon, Mo., veteran James Belshe, a “wide-eyed young man still in high school tried to enlist in the Army Air Forces with dreams of someday becoming a pilot.” When he was told he was colorblind and ineligible to pursue a military aviation career, he returned to his high school studies.

“That’s when I got drafted by the Army,” Belshe grinned. “I graduated (from Eldon High School) in May 1943 and a few days later I was at Jefferson Barracks being inducted into the Army.”

After only a few days at the St. Louis area post, the new recruit traveled to Camp Roberts, Calif., spending the next few weeks in basic infantry training followed by instruction as a “field lineman,” as is noted on his discharge papers.

WWII veteran James Belshe is pictured in his Eldon, Mo., home holding the Purple Heart medal he received for wounds incurred in 1945 and a picture of him that was drawn by a fellow soldier recovering at a military hospital in New Guinea during the war. Courtesy of Jeremy P. Ämick.

“They decided that I would go into communications,” Belshe recalled. “We learned Morse code, semaphore (communication using flags), radios, telephones … anything that was used to communicate somehow.”

When his training ended in late summer 1943, he returned home for two weeks of leave and then traveled to California to board the New Amsterdam (a Dutch luxury liner converted to a troop ship). The ship sailed for New Zealand where Belshe was assigned to the headquarters company for the 161st Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division (ID).

As Belshe explained, the 25th ID had already participated in several major engagements and encountered fierce resistance from well-organized Japanese forces on Guadalcanal followed by operations in the Solomon Islands. Having encountered significant casualties, the division moved to New Zealand toward the latter part of 1943 to recuperate and take on replacements such as Belshe.

“I really enjoyed my time at New Zealand,” Belshe affirmed. “That’s when the division was on leave, which meant that I was too.” He added, “We had a big stock tank full of beer (in the middle of the camp) and you could go to town anytime you wanted. I thought to myself, ‘This isn’t so bad.’”

Belshe is pictured in military uniform shortly after his induction into the U.S. Army during the summer of 1943. Courtesy of James Belshe.

The soldier discovered that his pleasant duty conditions were temporary when, in early 1944, the division moved to an “area in the woods” in New Caledonia—a French territory comprised of islands in the South Pacific.

“I worked on the switchboard so I knew what was going on around the place,” said the former soldier. “We also strung telephone lines all over our area of operations.”

The men of the division were soon informed that they would become part of the invasion of the Philippines and, in November 1944, began practicing assault landings followed by a journey aboard landing ship tanks (LSTs) to Lingayen Gulf several weeks later.

Upon landing, Belshe recalls, there was not any notable resistance since the “Alamo Scouts (recon unit of the U.S. Army) and Fiji Scouts had pretty well taken care of everything,” but the division’s push inland on the island of Luzon introduced the young soldier to ever-present threats existent in all areas of a warzone.